And You Wonder If You'll Ever See The Sun
by boombangbing
Summary: The world is ending, in spectacular, horrifying style, and Teal'c watches as everything he has built up in the last ten years crumbles away and dies. He is trapped, and forced to do things he never imagined he'd have to.  WARNING: APOCAFIC.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing, I take responsibility for nothing. Everything here his owned by people across the pond in the US of A.  
**

**This was written for the apocalypsekree ficathon over at livejournal.  
**

"_But one day the things that made you free start to keep you down."_

i.

In the end, the Ori did not invade, and neither did the Goa'uld, the Lucian Alliance or the Wraith. There was no glorious battle in which we emerged victorious. No, there was just no time before the human race effectively exterminated itself.

--

It began with a press conference.

"In an unprecedented act of honestly, President Hayes called a press conference today in which he revealed the imminent threat of attack from extra-terrestrials. Claims of this nature made before, most notably by billionaire Alec Colson, were quashed by Air Force officials-"

--

The ensuing chaos was inevitable. Prophets emerged, declaring the end was nigh. They were right, though they probably didn't actually realise it at the time. Behind closed doors, Hayes was battling a small war with the governments of the countries not deemed important enough to be let in on the big secret. In the more fortunate (many refuted this, not knowing turned out to so much better) countries, administrations attempted to keep the peace among their own people. The sheer effort put into calming the rioting masses shifted attentions from the possible hostility from other countries. After all, little green men were coming down from the sky, things couldn't get any worse, could they?

--

The first nuclear missile was launched exactly five days after the announcement. The President, accompanied by SG-1 and Generals Hammond and O'Neill, were attempting to explain the complexities of the SGC's plan of attack on the Ori to the assembled world chiefs when the world shook. It could almost have been passed off as an earthquake, had it not been immediately followed by the brightest, blinding white light.

The next few minutes were chaos, and on reflection, only Teal'c could recount the events. The screamings of aids and bodyguards, the stampeding out of the room, the absolute loss of honour and Hayes retrieving an alcoholic beverage from his desk draw before being hustled to safety.

"To boost morale," he said, in answer to Teal'c's raised eyebrow.

--

The bunker was deep underground, perhaps as deep as the SGC. Certainly, they were safe from the attacks, though that comforted few.

Sam thought of her research, and the strides they'd made in anti-Ori technology, and belatedly of her brother and nephews.

Cameron showed the kind of controlled terror of the fate of his parents that made Teal'c's heart ache for his friend, and for his own family, so seemingly unattainably far at this moment.

Jack, Daniel and Vala have no one outside of this bunker, and the relief intermingled with guilt is obvious. Teal'c can, to coin a popular earth phrase, read Tauris like books.

"How long do you think we'll have to stay here?" Vala asks on the first day.

"There have been more attacks." It's a statement, perhaps an answer to her question, or maybe just a need to purge information. O'Neill doesn't look at her as he says it.

Colonel Carter does look at her. "With the amount of radiation, there's really no way to tell. Someone will have to risk going out in a containment suit to test the ground. We might not breathe fresh air again in our lifetime."

Vala seems worried. "Will there be enough food?"

It breaks the tension somewhat, though it wasn't meant to. Daniel settles next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You'll be well-fed Vala."

--

A technician manning the cameras alerts them to the first signs of trouble.

"Well... you see, sir, they-they appear to..."

"For crying out loud, would'ya just spit it out!" O'Neill's nerves are frayed by the lack of control, the lack of a solution. Teal'c knows this feeling well, the white in his hair serves as a constant reminder.

"There are people moving around up there, sir."

In times like these, O'Neill does what he always did, he looks to Colonel Carter.

"Could people have survived?"

"The computers indicate no."

"Then how...?"

"I don't know sir."

--

ii.

This new sort of life is not suited to everyone. The claustrophobia is intense and almost unbearable, considering the length of time involved. Friendships must be strong, or face the decline into hatred. Teal'c knows this well, has advance experience in these matters, knows his friends have the kind of integrity to make it through. They, however, have no such assurances.

There is not a place for everyone in this new system. Scientists and those with organisational skills are most highly regarded. Sam, Jack and Cameron find their place, but others do not. Daniel, as an academic, and Vala and Teal'c, aliens distrusted by the President's inner circle. Doctor Jackson spends his time studying what tomes are kept in the bunker. He'll be through them soon, and Teal'c wonders what comes after that. For everyone, what after?

"Aren't you worried?" Vala asks. She tries to not let the stress show, to be how she was before, but the cracks begin.

"In regards to what?"

"_'In regards to what?' _In regards to this, Teal'c. Where we are now, what's happening here."

"What's happening is unavoidable, we can change nothing."

"I know that," she says softly, not catching his eye. "It's just... I thought this would be more. I thought earth would be more. I didn't think I'd be imprisoned again."

She says no more, and doesn't linger at the table, but her words stay. He sees their truth.

He is trapped, held in the very place that set him free. The irony is not lost on him.

--

As it was the President who sparked off these hellish events, it seems almost fitting that he begin what O'Neill comes to call 'the second wave'.

The first symptoms are flu-like, heaviness in the limbs, lack of appetite, physical and mental hallucinations, but they transcend that within days.

--

He lies curled into a ball on one of the infirmary cots, wailing and gnashing his teeth.

"Radiation poisoning," Colonel Carter says.

"Why now?" Daniel's eyes are red-rimmed from lack of sleep. They don't all need to be there, but they work better as a unit. It is a balance that they have attained. Teal'c knows not why, but it seems pointless to question it. Some things just are.

"I guess he wasn't exposed for long enough for it to present quickly."

"But the people up top," O'Neill interjects. "Some of 'em are still kicking."

She shrugs, a look of uncharacteristic defeat on her face. "I don't know, sir. The sensors can only tell us so much. I'd have to take a look myself-"

"Not now." O'Neill reaches out, physically and emotionally, and it's what she needs. Teal'c is glad to see that his friend has grown able to lend support in this way. There was a time when he could not.

O'Neill tries to smile, lightening the mood was always a strong point of his. "You need sleep Carter, we all do."

"I'll stay and watch for changes," Colonel Mitchell says. Carter pats him on the shoulder and they all depart for their separate quarters. Later, Teal'c regrets not staying with the Colonel. Perhaps things would have turned out differently.

--

At 4.37am, President Hayes is declared dead. Cameron does not fetch Samantha. Maybe he feels she can do no more, that this inability will torture her, that she needs those precious hours of sleep. They are all valid, honourable reasons, and Teal'c would have expected nothing less.

--

At 5.23am, President Hayes is declared undead.

The siren's shrieks throughout the bunker, rousing everyone almost instantly. O'Neill runs from his quarters, yelling orders. Teal'c is not far behind as his room is opposite the General's. The rest of SG-1 are a couple of minutes behind. This is a blessing for them.

As they neared the infirmary, he begins to separate the wailing siren and the terrified screams. O'Neill's bare feet slap against the concrete ground, and he's shouting orders in every and any direction. He does not notice until it is too late.

He slips, skidding along the hall and slamming into the wall near the infirmary. He struggles to his knees, hands out in front of him to gain balance, and then he stops, gazing at his hands, at the floor. When he looks back at Teal'c, there is something new, something old, there. Something so long forgotten as almost not to be. Teal'c knows some of the Tauri's history, knows of the wars fought and of O'Neill role in them. Memories are perhaps the only things one cannot truly run from.

Teal'c's breath almost catches in his throat. Blood covers the small corridor, seeping out from underneath the door. Before he is forced to make the decision to enter this hellish room, the door crashes open, and... something staggers out. In its arms it holds a limp figure, torn and bloodied, and unmistakeably dead. It throws the figure down by O'Neill and lifts it head, baring once brilliant white teeth, now blackened.

The reaction is instinctive. Teal'c raises his guns and empties five rounds into its head. It staggers back, twitching horribly at every shot, and topples over.

O'Neill has two fingers to the victim's neck. "It's Cameron."

Teal'c steps closer to the infirmary. There are more dead within. "And that would appear to be President Hayes."

--

Some of the airmen can't cope with the sight of it, and O'Neill snarls at them to do their jobs. When the others arrive, Colonel Carter sees him before she notices the slaughter.

"What? Sir-" She stares at his bloodied uniform.

"It isn't mine," he grunts.

"Oh God," Daniel Jackson mutters, looking down at Mitchell.

"Conference room, now," O'Neill says gruffly, and they follow him obediently.

--

Zombies. The walking dead. Brain-eaters. O'Neill gave a quick run through of the situation how he saw it, citing as many popular culture references as possible.

"Those shambling messes up top? The undead."

Colonel Carter didn't disagree. Daniel Jackson didn't argue, and Vala didn't understand.

"How do you mean, 'undead'? Were they brought back with a sarcophagus?"

"No," Carter says. "You have to be at least somewhat alive for that to work. This is a myth we have, where dead people rise again. It's normally linked to some kind of magic, but I don't think that's the case here. I think it's the radiation."

O'Neill agrees, "I need you to start working on this. I'll talk to George."

--

Teal'c goes with Sam to collect samples from the dead bodies. He hovers above with a P90 as she takes the skin and blood, not trusting that any of them will stay dead. When she's done, the bodies are taken to the incinerator.

"We can't be too careful." She says, touching Mitchell's hand briefly as he's taken out.

--

The incubation period varies from person to person, but three more people fall ill within a week. They're confined, under armed guard, and the scientists works tirelessly to find a cure, or at least something to lengthen life, but the work is long and hard-going, and the incinerator is used far more often than anyone would like.

It is difficult for Teal'c to settle, kelnorim no longer satisfies him, and sleep is hard to get, for a variety of reasons. He jogs up and down the corridors, recalling his and Cameron's work-out sessions on the Odyssey. It's peculiar, he feels, to have this wealth of memory – a whole lifetime – and be the only one, but in some ways it makes him feel special. He knows so much more than any of them do, he understands them better than they do themselves, and it feels... Powerful. Perhaps this is how Apophis felt.

Every decision he has made has led him here, and he wouldn't change what has gone before, what he's learnt, about himself, about life, but he can't help but be bitter. He may never see Ry'ac, Bra'tac or Chulak again.

On his travels, he hears Daniel Jackson talking in hushed tones, to Vala, to Sha're photograph, to himself. He sees O'Neill enter Colonel Carter's room, hears the tears and moves on. There is no real chain of command to hold to, and perhaps that's best.

--

In the next two weeks, their group dwindles from twenty-five to six. Symptoms come on faster for some, death is quicker. SG-1, O'Neill and an airman are left, a tight group that rarely leaves each others' side for more than half an hour.

Sam is pale and thin, the burden of saving everyone begins to get on top of her. More than once she has to be carried by one of them to her bed.

The radiation sickness is touching everyone now, those left were perhaps not exposed as long as others, or their immune systems are better, or they're just lucky. Teal'c feels nauseous often, though he tries his hardest to not let it show, there is more than enough to deal with. Sam feels that his blood may be the key to a cure, the traces of the symbiote, and she uses his, hers and Vala's blood in countless tests. She breaks more than a few slides, and much time is spent in the infirmary, in fact when she works, at least one of them sleeps there, just to be a presence for her to hold on to. Teal'c fears for her sanity, and he knows the others do to, though they never comment on it. She's their only hope.

Her breaking point was O'Neill. When he begins exhibiting the advanced symptoms, she becomes hyperactive, consuming maybe a year's worth of coffee, and it can only get worse.

--

The illness works quickly on O'Neill, and he begs through clenched teeth to be taken to his room, that he doesn't want to spend his dying hours in the infirmary. They agree, and Teal'c carries him to his quarters. When he lays him on the bed, O'Neill whispers "Thank you."

Teal'c does not understand at the time, not until the shot rings out. They race to his room, and then Teal'c knows. O'Neill would never have let himself become one of the abominations. Vala holds Sam as he and Daniel drag the body out.

The end is, indeed, nigh.

--

Sam is sick, Daniel is sick, Vala has a constant cough and Teal'c knows he will be next.

Finding a cure seems almost pointless now, there is only the four of them and Samantha can barely stand. Teal'c wonders at how she i_s._

"Colonel Carter, I must insist-"

"No! I-I-I'm close," her hand shakes, the test tube grasped tight enough for her knuckle to turn white.

He nods. "May I help?"

She smiles, relieved. "Hand me that slide."

They work until both are exhausted. Daniel is curled in a foetal position, moaning softly, Vala stroking his hair. They'll be together at the end at least.

--

He fell asleep at some point. It is unlike him, so much about this illness makes his body do unlikely things. When he wakes, Sam is on the floor, rigid, in the last throes of the poisoning He glances at Daniel Jackson, and he too is nearing death. Vala looks desolate.

As he lifts Sam from the floor, she mumbles something. He leans closer to her.

"I... done... cure."

On the work desk there is a tube with a note underneath it. It says in scrawled handwriting: 'This is it.'

His hands betray him as he shakily fills a syringe with the liquid and administers it to Colonel Carter, then Jackson, Vala and himself.

"Will this work?" Vala whispers.

"I do not know."

She glances at Sam's prone body. "Why are they so much sicker than us?"

"I believe the length of time that we had with Goa'ulds is involved." If anything, this fact makes him hate them more. He had thought it not possible.

--

Sam passes that night, and after they finish with the bastardized cremation, Vala flees to her room, saying she can't watch Daniel die. It's a valid reason, and he doesn't deny her the right to grieve alone, but he goes back, he owes his old friend that much.

Daniel Jackson is awake, in the final stages it seems, fitting, his hands becoming claws that rip at the sheets. His head looks as if it has been wrenched back, and there is a look of absolute terror on his face.

"Vala!" Teal'c yells. In the end, she will want to be here.

He steps to Daniel and takes his hand as best he can. "Daniel Jackson, can you hear me? _Can you hear me? _Daniel Jackson! Daniel!"

Daniel coughs. "It must... bad... first name."

"Daniel Jackson, you must hold on."

He shakes his head, Teal'c cringes inwardly at it, it looks so painful.

"End," he splutters. "End it."

"End it?" Teal'c repeats.

"Mm. Overdose."

He drops Daniel's hand abruptly. Suicide, following O'Neill. Daniel Jackson can't do it himself, Teal'c is his only hope. But he can't, not when there is at least a sliver of hope left, he can't risk, can he?

"Please..." he begs pathetically. "Please."

--

Vala can barely breath when she gets into the infirmary, the run has taken everything out of her.

"No, no, please..."

Teal'c is blocking her view. "Vala," he says softly.

"No."

He steps aside and... Daniel looks peaceful. Peaceful asleep, or peaceful dead?

"Is he...?"

"He appears to be over the worst of it," Teal'c says.

Vala gapes, "He's..."

"Alive, yes."

She shrieks then, and flings herself at him, chanting "Oh my god, oh my god," like a mantra.

He holds on to her, barely believing it himself. All this time, all these deaths, and now a cure. Too late for so many. The only thing that consoles him is that Samantha Carter did not die for nothing.

This is a good day.

--

iii.

The good days multiple themselves. Vala's cough clears up, and neither of them fall ill. Whatever was in the syringes was a miracle.

Daniel's recovery is slow but steady. He cannot walk unaided, and needs to be fed for the first five days, but Teal'c sees a little improvement everyday, and he lives for those moments. He lives day by day, relishing the small things he might have missed. A smile, a laugh, a conversation. Everything is important. He takes care of washing Jackson, as he knows that the embarrassment of Vala doing it might be the thing that actually kills him. After a week and a half, they can move beyond bed bathes and into actual showers. Teal'c supports him to the cubicle and helps him in.

"Is it really necessary?" Daniel refers to Teal'c standing at the opening.

"Should you slip and hit your head, it would be most inconvenient for me to extract you."

He smiles. "Right, okay."

He shampoos his hair "Ah, I can't tell you how long I've been dying to do this – no pun intended." and they chat idly. They talk around the point, they have for two weeks, but Daniel finally comes to it.

"I asked you to kill me, didn't I?" he asks slowly.

"Indeed."

"And you didn't."

"Indeed."

"Why?"

"Many reasons," Teal'c answers. "Perhaps, divine intervention?"

"Oma," Daniel says quietly. Teal'c does not answer, there's no need.

--

iv.

The men in containment suits walk over the burnt ground, survey the decimated buildings. The sun breaks through the clouds regardless of the situation below. Many shambling creature have come at them, and have been blown away by the men's advanced technology.

"Well," one of them drawls over the helmet-to-helmet intercom. "This _sucks_."

"What an eloquent summary of the events at hand, Colonel."

"Haha, McKay. The bunker should be around here somewhere."

Rodney points behind Sheppard. "Well, the White house used to be over there, so shall we try?"

--

The siren alerts them to the outer hatch having been opened. None of them are awake, so it takes them a couple of minutes to pull on clothes and get to it.

"Could they have gotten in?" Vala asks.

Daniel shakes his head. "No, you need a code to open it."

"So..."

There's a sucking sound, as the people entering are decontaminated, and then the inner hatch swings open.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

"Hi," Daniel calls up. "Are you alive or undead?"

"Alive, last time I checked." Colonel Sheppard jumps down easily, followed ungainly by Doctor McKay. "We're your cavalry, get your people together and we're out of here."

"This is it, Colonel," Daniel says and no one goes further into it.

--

Atlantis is different. Different to any place Teal'c has ever lived, it's amazing, magnificent, clean, well-run, but he misses earth, he misses the people, the chaos. Now, this base has the largest number of Tauri on it out of any planet. It has become their homeworld. And there are quite a few that he knows. General Landry, Sergeant Harriman, Major Davis – the faces are familiar, but he's changed. Only the three of them understand what it was like, everyone at the SGC had fled through the Stargate at the first signs of serious trouble.

"I cannot stay here," he tells Daniel and Vala. "I can do this no longer. I must help go back to my people, help against the Ori threat. Everything feels different."

"I know," Daniel Jackson says. "I can't connect to these people any more, I can't understand why I cared about coming here so much. It seems like nothing now."

"Everyone's clever here," Vala chimes in. "What kind of help am I gonna be? It's not like I even know anything about these life-sucking things."

They pause for moment. Life had always been uncertain for Teal'c, but in a strange way, what happened made things simple. There is no time to waste in life.

"We should all go," Daniel says. "We should stay together."

He holds his hand out, and Vala lays hers on top. Teal'c leans forward and slips both hands around there's.

"Indeed."


End file.
